Fumer la moquette
Meaning: To be talking obvious nonsense; to be off one's head.
Language: French
Literally: To smoke the carpet
Category: Daily Life
Origin: Second half of the 20th century, and mockery aimed at smokers. Carpet pile is the closest thing to grass a city flat has to offer — visually, at least — so the joke assembles itself: a man whose supply has run out crops a handful of moquette into his joint and sets off on an unusual trip. Anyone smoking synthetic carpet fiber is plainly not in possession of their faculties, which is what the phrase says about anyone talking rubbish. There is a footnote in its favor: hashish is Indian hemp, and hemp was for centuries the fiber of choice for rope, cloth and carpets, so at home the distance between fumer le tapis and fumer la moquette is shorter than it sounds.
More idioms — Daily Life
- Sauver les meubles — To salvage what matters from a disaster.
- Pédaler dans la semoule — To be confused and getting nowhere.
- Avoir d'autres chats à fouetter — To have more important things to do.
- Avoir le cul entre deux chaises — To be indecisive, caught between two options.
- Les carottes sont cuites — It's too late, nothing can be done.
- Ich verstehe nur Bahnhof — I don't understand anything at all.
More French idioms
- Laisser pisser le mérinos — To let things take their course; to wait it out.
- Rouler des mécaniques — To swagger; to throw one's weight around.
- Se casser la margoulette — To come a cropper; to take a bad fall.
- Se faire du mouron — To worry oneself.
- Ça ne casse pas trois pattes à un canard — It's nothing special or impressive.
- C'est comme pisser dans un violon — A completely pointless effort.
From our tongue twisters
- Un beau ver vert dans un verre vert verra un ver vert. — Ver (worm), vert (green), and verre (glass) are near-homophones — distinguishing them at…
- Didon dîna, dit-on, du dos d'un dodu dindon dont le dodu dos dodine. — A 'd' / 'din' / 'dod' avalanche that seems designed to jam the tongue in third gear.
- Un chasseur sachant chasser doit savoir chasser sans son chien. — The classic French 'ch' / 's' tangler.
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